Devon HenryRing the Bell in back-to-back years for Joe Gibbs Racing and Christopher Bell! While you’re at it, ring it three more times, Bell is now on a hot streak with three consecutive wins this season. All three came at different disciplines of race tracks with the Superspeedway of Atlanta Motor Speedway, the road course of Circuit of the Americas, and now the one-mile host of the Championship with Phoenix Raceway.
Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin had to settle for a second-place finish in a drag race to the finish line after a last lap pass. The victory for Bell was by a margin of just 0.049 seconds, the second-closest Cup finish in Phoenix Raceway history. The three-peat for Bell makes him just the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win three of the first four races of a season.
“It worked out about as opposite as I could have drawn it up in my head,” Bell said. “But the races that are contested like that, looking back, are the ones that mean the most to you.”
The pressure was on and @CBellRacing delivered.
He explains how he navigated the final restart at @phoenixraceway. pic.twitter.com/imu5EeEtjr
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 10, 2025
Kyle Larson came home in the third position while Josh Berry brought the Wood Brothers Racing Ford to their best-ever finish at Phoenix in fourth. Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.
The victory also marks a Phoenix Raceway sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing, all of which came through last-lap passes. Brent Crews found Victory Lane in the ARCA Menards Series on Friday night in the JGR No. 18. Former Cup Series driver, Aric Almirola, pancaked the wall with Alex Bowman to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the JGR No. 19. And the No. 20 closed out the weekend with Christopher Bell.
After nearly winning the Xfinity Series race the day before, Tucson native, Alex Bowman, had a forgettable qualifying run but an impressive race, earning just his third career top-ten at his home track with a seventh-place finish. Meanwhile, Glendale native, Michael McDowell tied his best qualifying effort at his home track starting seventh but had a forgettable day after a blown tire led to more issues throughout the race, leading to a 27th-place finish. But McDowell did have a great celebration before the race weekend with the Boys and Girls Club of Avondale.
No better way to celebrate back-to-back than this 🍾#ShrinersChildrens500 pic.twitter.com/vJNbgRbDFZ
— Phoenix Raceway (@phoenixraceway) March 10, 2025
A massive wrinkle in the race weekend was Goodyear’s addition of the “option tire,” a softer tire that had more grip but wore quicker. Teams were allotted two sets of the option tires and six sets of the normal primary tire.
“Everything went according to plan at Phoenix, and the option tire worked very well,” Goodyear’s NASCAR project manager Mark Keto said after the race. “It gave teams a chance to vary their strategies and maximize their effectiveness to gain track position over teams that were on the primary tires. Teams were also able to manage their options once they got track position and make them last longer into a run. Overall, we were very happy with the balance and strategy of the prime/option tire setup and how it added to the racing all day.”
NASCAR’s next stop is up north in Nevada as the series hits Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday. And mark your calendars as NASCAR Championship Weekend returns to Phoenix Raceway to crown four champions in the ARCA Menards West Series, Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series over three days from October 31 to November 2.
